Euronews

What’s in a name? A lot of grief and a big hit to your sales if you chose the wrong one.

A Belgian chocolate maker has found that out the hard way.

Late last year the company changed its name from Italo Suisse to ISIS.

Oops! That has distinctly negative connotations as the name used by Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria.

The owner Ignace Libeert said sales slumped and then the penny dropped: “When we saw that the orders, which were planned to get in latest beginning September for this Christmas, they didn’t come in, neither from the United States, neither from the UK, so we said: ‘What’s going on here?’ And they said yes, we have orders but the name ISIS is actually disturbing because our consumers are very upset with that name which is all abroad.”

Chocolate bars with the ISIS label have already hit the shops for Christmas.

Those for the Easter holidays will have the new name – Libeert – after the owners.

The company reckons the name problem has cost about two to three million euros, quite a bite out of annual turnover of 35 million euros.